NOTD Essence Most Wanted

A very quick nail post!

I usually love bright nail varnish so I was surprised to be drawn to this chocolate brown colour. I think it looks really lovely but it's probably a bit dark for summer!

Sorry for the awkward hand pose but it was the best light I could get!

I did polka dots on one accent nail on each hand (my ring finger) to lighten up the whole look and I can see this being a HUGE trend in my future nail polish adventures =D (please excuse the cuticles!)

Essence Most Wanted and Bourjois while nail varnish for french manicures.

One thing I will say about this Essence polish is that while it may be cheap (under 2 euro I think!) I found the quality wasn't great. It chipped after a day (grrr). Also two/three coats are most definitely needed tor the polish to be opaque. Not sure if I'd re-purchase another Essence polish I might just stick with the lovely & budget-tastic Catrice!

A brush with Bourjois: Brand love

Bourjois is a brand I love. I am very very fond of their healthy mix foundation (must review soon!) and I am also a huge fan of their little round pot eyeshadows. I am really surprised that I haven't reviewed anything by Bourjois before!! Here are two things I picked up recently that I'm loving!  :)

I am a total gel eyeliner convert after buying the amazing Maybelline gel eyeliner but every now and again I turn back to trusty ol' pencil liner. It's quick & importantly very easy to reapply when you're out and about.
Or in a rush first thing in the morning running to an exam.

Recently I'm loving Bourjois Effet Smoky (Smoky effect language fans!! Ooh lala!) in  Ultra Black.

And it really is Ultra black! It comes with a pencil on one end and a little blender thingy on the end which is great for doing a smoky eye.

I love this but bear in mind that it is pencil eyeliner and will need to be reapplied after a while!
7.99 euro Boots

The second  product I'm loving is their blushers, especially this one in 54 Pink Frisson

It's a lovely pink with slight shimmer and it smells GREAT!! Perfect for summer.

I'm still doing exams so posts will probably be few and far between 'til I finish, good luck to everyone else doing exams! :) xx

Foundation Trials: L'Oreal True Match foundation

My skin's looking a little worse for wear lately! Late night studying, stress and stress-induced comfort eating (mmm cholocate...) are the culprits! Exam time, huh?

Anyway, I've been looking for a new foundation that will give me a little more coverage to disguise this but still look sheer enough for day-time use. One of my friends praised L'Oreal's True Match foundation to high heavens so I decided to try it out.

Happily, I love it! I got in in N1 (Neutral). I'm pale but I don't really get this whole 'warm' or 'cool' skin idea really (Sorry MAC!) , some 'warm colours' look fine on me and some 'cool colours' don't suit me at all.

This is easy to blend, lightweight and best of all gives good coverage without feeling like a mask! Thumbs up! :)

The Royal Wedding

Oh April/May I don't know whether I like you or not... The weather has been beautiful but sadly this is essay-writing/study time for me as my final exams are in 2 weeks.. eek! Hence my absence from blogland!!

However, a certain event this week made me decide I had to do a post even if I am up to my neck in novels and essays...Yup, it's the Royal Wedding! :)

I know many, many people couldn't care less about this wedding and to be honest I was one of those people a week ago. Then I had the t.v on Friday morning and I couldn't stop watching it!!!

I loved Kate's dress, to me it seemed conservative enough for a royal wedding but still stylish... I fell in love with lace again just looking at it.

I liked Pippa's dress but I thought it wasn't really suitable for the occasion.. The colour, the fit was absolutely beautiful but for a wedding, as a bridesmaid? I'm not so sure! Then again, I presume Kate chose this dress for her sister so she must have been okay with it! I love the colour of the evening dress though... Gorgeous!

I'm a sucker for a fairytale and this seemed just like one! The kiss on the balcony was so lovely and that slight turn she did just as they left the balcony with a big smile on her face (top left hand corner here).. Magical.

(Please excuse all the gushing in this post!! I'm fond of weddings to say the least! ;) )

Pictures from http://www.popsugar.com/ & google image search

It's looking like a beautiful day...

All this gorgeous weather is making me daydream about blue skies, sandy beaches and clear,turquoise water..

I don't know what I'm doing this summer yet but I should be going abroad for a little while as part of my course.. Have you any summer plans? :) x

Here comes the sun!

Ah sun. I'm not quite sure if it's my friend or foe!

I love the warm weather and the fact that you can leave your jacket at home, but as a very pale person who isn't too fond of extreme heat (although there's no fear of that here in Ireland!!) I'm wary of it!

I prefer to turn to bronzer if I'm going for a slightly tanned look. Except due to my paleness many bronzers look orange/brown/ just dirty looking on me. YUK.

However I may have found my new favourite bronzer. Step forward Rimmel Sunshimmer 3 in 1 shimmering bronzer in 001 Gold Princess.

 As you can see in this pic there's three shades. And they are all quite sheer and light. Perfect for pale skin!

Here they are swatched with the lightest colour to the darkest, left to right.

I had to swatch them quite heavily to even get this amount of colour! If you want a full on bronzer or if you have darker skin this probably isn't for you but for pale skinned girlies like me it's the business! :)

Now where did I leave my sunglasses...

* I'm not sure of the exact price.. around 11 euro I think for 9.9g of product so good enough.  I'll try and find out soon!*

Quirky accessories

I love accessories.

Since my clothes usually aren't very out there (I'm not bold enough for wet look leggings or the previously discussed leather shorts, sorry!) I try to make sure my accessories are different and stand out.

A recent purchase was this necklace from forever 21, 4.80 euros

Yes.. it's a robot.

Isn't it cute? I don't know what I'm gonna wear it with yet but I can see myself planning an outfit around it haha!

On a side  note it was my first time in Forever 21 (I know, I know but I've been super busy this year okay...) and to be honest, I wasn't really impressed. Everyone raved about it but I didn't see what the fuss was about. The pricing system really confused me, things I thought would be expensive were cheap and vice versa. Also it is huge and I had a headache after half an hour wandering around. Maybe I'm missing something?

P.S I've changed my blog format a little, let me know if you like/dislike it! :)